This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Seibert, M. Articles by Wetherbee, P. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Seibert, M. Articles by Wetherbee, P. J. Agricola Articles by Seibert, M. Articles by Wetherbee, P. J.

Articles

Increased Survival and Differentiation of Frozen Herbaceous Plant Organ Cultures through Cold Treatment

¹ GTE Laboratories, Incorporated, Waltham, Massachusetts 02154

Cold treatment of donor carnation plants (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) at 4 C for 3 days or more resulted in a doubling in the percentage of excised, frozen shoot apices which survived freezing and a 6- to 7-fold increase in the percentage which formed leaf primordia or shoots. The optimal freezing parameters for both survival and differentiation were as follows: size of the shoot apex-two to three sets of leaf primordia; dimethylsulfoxide concentration in the freezing solution-5%; time in dimethylsulfoxide prior to freezing->30 minutes; average cooling rate-50 C/minute; initial warming rate-about 1450 C/minute. In general, the cells in the meristematic region of the shoot apex remained viable after freezing while those in the leaf primordia did not. Viability of the meristematic cells appears to be maintained by preventing the growth of intracellular ice crystals formed during rapid cooling by rapidly passing the tissue through the temperature zone in which lethal crystal growth occurs (mechanism of Luyet). Applications of this technique are discussed.